Up front, I do not make knives, but do recieve one every now and then. About 15-18 years ago, I met this Flintknapper online who just happened to live in Tucson. We set up a meet date, and when I got there, I of course had a lot of rock to give him as Tucson is pretty rock poor. He in turn gave me this knife pictured below.
He also did blacksmithing, so he made the knife from a file. It came with a scabbard made of Rawhide and a little bit of normal everyday leather. What surprised me though, was the use of Cedar inside the scabbard to support the knife, plus he said it prohibits rust. I've never done anything to the knife other than show folks who come by and then it goes back into the scabbard. It looks today just like it did when he gave it to me, so I suppose the wood works.
Flintknappers or rendezvouser's do not try to make their pieces look like works of art, but rather they try to replicate what was made for the time periods they are representing.
So, here is the knife made using an old file, deer antler, brass or copper?, steel for the rivet, and rawhide and tanned leather for the scabbard and a cedar socket for the blade. What I find unusual is JB, the maker, used a modern key ring for the attach point for the belt loop. He also used super glue in the crack on the right side of the handle.
I don't know what caused the leather to stain like it shows here because when he gave it to me, I didn't notice it. I hung the knife with my powder horns and flintlock. It's been exposed to the elements in the house from the time I got. Never has it been outside nor used. You can still see the file stitches near the handle. The rawhide is pretty darned hard.
When the knife is inserted into this scabbard, it has a lock type of feel. It also takes a little effort to pull it out when I do take it out. It would never get lost without losing the scabbard also.
Here is the cedar socket. It goes the whole length of the blade. You can see there isn't any kind of rust on the blade at all. We do get a few days at 70% humidity here in the summer which should cause rust.
So, have any of you knife makers heard of using cedar in scabbards??? ............. Jerry (in Tucson)
He also did blacksmithing, so he made the knife from a file. It came with a scabbard made of Rawhide and a little bit of normal everyday leather. What surprised me though, was the use of Cedar inside the scabbard to support the knife, plus he said it prohibits rust. I've never done anything to the knife other than show folks who come by and then it goes back into the scabbard. It looks today just like it did when he gave it to me, so I suppose the wood works.
Flintknappers or rendezvouser's do not try to make their pieces look like works of art, but rather they try to replicate what was made for the time periods they are representing.
So, here is the knife made using an old file, deer antler, brass or copper?, steel for the rivet, and rawhide and tanned leather for the scabbard and a cedar socket for the blade. What I find unusual is JB, the maker, used a modern key ring for the attach point for the belt loop. He also used super glue in the crack on the right side of the handle.
I don't know what caused the leather to stain like it shows here because when he gave it to me, I didn't notice it. I hung the knife with my powder horns and flintlock. It's been exposed to the elements in the house from the time I got. Never has it been outside nor used. You can still see the file stitches near the handle. The rawhide is pretty darned hard.
When the knife is inserted into this scabbard, it has a lock type of feel. It also takes a little effort to pull it out when I do take it out. It would never get lost without losing the scabbard also.
Here is the cedar socket. It goes the whole length of the blade. You can see there isn't any kind of rust on the blade at all. We do get a few days at 70% humidity here in the summer which should cause rust.
So, have any of you knife makers heard of using cedar in scabbards??? ............. Jerry (in Tucson)